1 86 THE PRAISE OF GARDENS 



At his first entrance, he is treated with the sight of a large green 

 field, scattered over with a few straggling trees, and verged with 

 a confused border of little shrubs and flowers ; upon farther in- 

 spection, he finds a little serpentine path, twining in regular S's 

 amongst the shrubs of the border, upon which he is to go round, 

 to look on one side at what he has already seen, the large green 

 field ; and on the other side at the boundary, which is never more 

 than a few yards from him, and always obtruding upon his sight : 

 from time to time he perceives a little seat or temple stuck up 

 against the wall ; he rejoices at the discovery, sits down, rests 

 his weary limbs, and then reels on again, cursing the line of 

 beauty, till spent with fatigue, half roasted by the sun, for there 

 is never any shade, and tired for want of entertainment, he re- 

 solves to see no more : vain resolution ! there is but one path ; 

 he must either drag on to the end, or return back by the tedious 

 way he came. 



Such is the favourite plan of all our smaller gardens : and our 

 larger works are only a repetition of the small ones ; more green 

 fields, more shrubberies, more serpentine walks and more seats ; 

 like the honest bachelor's feast, which consisted in nothing but 

 a multiplication of his own dinner; three legs of mutton and 

 turneps, three roasted geese, and three buttered apple-pies. 



It is, I think, obvious that neither the artful, nor the simple 

 style of Gardening here mentioned, is right : the one being too 

 extravagant a deviation from nature; the other too scrupulous 

 an adherence to her. One manner is absurd ; the other insipid 

 and vulgar : a judicious mixture of both would certainly be more 

 perfect than either. 



But how this union can be effected is difficult to say. The 

 men of art and the friends of nature, are equally violent in 

 defence of their favourite system ; and, like all other partizans, 

 loth to give up anything, however unreasonable. . . . 



Whether the Chinese manner of Gardening be better or worse 

 than those now in use amongst the Europeans, I will not deter- 

 mine : comparison is the surest as well as the easiest test of truth ; 

 it is in every man's power to compare and to judge for himself. . . . 



